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great perseverance, ministered not only to the people of Belfast, but also to the settlers of Wood Islands, Georgetown and Murray Harbour. He also preached occasionally at Charlottetown, Cherry Valley, New Lon- don and other places, thus bearing in'con— junction with the other ministers in the province the growing demands on time and strength, caused by the districts becoming more thickly populated.

It is strange that up to this time, al— though there must have been incidental preaching, there was, no Presbyterian organ- ization in Charlottetown, the capital city of the province. In 1825, however, the need of such having been keenly felt a public meeting was called, which eventually result- ed in the erection of the first Presbyterian place of worship, St. James’.

The year 1826 saw the advent of one of the most striking of the early pioneers in church work. A few months after Bedeque had been separated from Richmond Bay a call was extended by the newly founded congregation to the Rev. R. S. Paterson, who accepted the same and who continued his labors with unabated success until the year of his death, 1882, an unbroken pastor- ate of fifty-six years. This is surely a record that speaks well for the minister and the people alike.

In this same year,1826, Cavendish and New London were disjoined from Prince- town and formed into a congregation, which for a brief period was under the supervision of the Reverend Mr. Dunbar, who, after re- tiring from the active ministry, became one of the strongest pioneers in the educational system of the province. In a brief resume of this kind only the salient features of such an interesting and important theme can be dealt with. The writer must therefore not

PAST AND PRESENT OF

only work upon a reduced canvas, but with a very delicate pencil. The purport of an article such as this must be to soften rather than to harden ecclesiastical prejudices. Any treatment, however, of the Presby- terian church in this province would be alto- gether inadequate and eminently unfair‘ to a very large section of the community which would fail to notice and at the same time to emphasize and to appreciate the unique serv- ices of the Rev. Donald McDonald. He ar- rived on the scene early in 1827 and contin- ued with unabated zeal and vigor for the space of forty years to proclaim what was to him “the' glorious gospel of the blessed God.” His figure is an outstanding one in the Island’s story. Homeless and a peripatetic he went about from place to place and from home to home, a veritable apostle, whose success can only be measured, from the hu- man standpoint, by the veneration of the few who, still living, acknowledge that under God he was the means of leading them into the paths of righteousness, and by the re- spect and wonder in which his memory is held by the descendants of those who, drawn by the magnetism 'of his personality, at- tracted by his fearless denunciation of sin, and softened and soothed by his heartfelt sympathy, gathered around him and consti- tuted the largest congregation in the history of the Canadian church. Whatever opinion may be held as to the peculiar manifestation denominated “the works,” there can be but one opinion as to the piety and devotion of the people to whom Mr. McDonald and his successor ministered abundantly and success— fully for the long period of seventy-six years. Mr. McDonald always claimed that his or— ganization represented the church of Scot- land and while there was no official connec- tion during his lifetime, in the lifetime of